IDC And Cuomo Meet On Gun Control (Updated)

The five members of the Independent Democratic Conference met this afternoon with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to discuss what conference leader Jeff Klein called a “comprehensive” proposal to combat gun violence.

The meeting — which the press had been alerted to — seemed designed to apply pressure on Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos to come to an agreement on gun control legislation, and soon.

“I don’t know about any agreements,” Klein, D-Bronx, said after the meeting when asked about Republican support for the bill. “I know that the Senate Independent Democratic Conference is whole heartedly supportive of gun control measures.”

Klein reiterated during the impromptu scrum with reporters that the IDC, which is composed of Sens. Diane Savino of Staten Island, David Carlucci of Rockland County, David Valesky of Syracuse and Malcolm Smith of Queens, that there was no daylight between the conference and Cuomo on the issue of gun control.

“We’re on the same page that we have to do everything possible that we have ban assault weapson in New York, high capacity magazines, make sure that people with serious mental health issues don’t possess guns and that’s what we have to do in the state of New York and we have to do it as quickly as possible,” he said.

Klein wouldn’t go into details on the specifics of a new assault weapons ban. New York does have a ban on assault weapons, but Cuomo in recent weeks has criticized the current law for having too many loopholes.

Not discussed at the meeting was microstamping — a process that would require the individual stamping of bullet casings. It’s a measure that Valesky has opposed in the past, and that Senate Republicans blocked last year.

Cuomo had sought to put together a special session of the Legislature before the State of the State, due to be given on Wednesday, making New York the first state to pass new gun control measures in the wake of the elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left 20 children and six adults dead.

A special session never coalesced as too many lawmakers were out of town during the Christmas holiday.

But Klein indicated that Cuomo is still pushing hard for gun control this month.

“I’m going to discuss it with my Republican colleagues — especially Senator Skelos — and we’ll see where it takes us,” Klein said. “But I think we agree and everyone else agrees, that we need to do something about both assault weapons as well as illegal guns that Senator Smith brought up.”

The five-member IDC has agreed to a power-sharing deal with Senate Republicans that would allow both sides to control the flow of legislation in the chamber. The Senate is expected to formalize its leadership on either Tuesday or Wednesday along with the new rules that create the IDC as a new, permanent conference.

Updated: Skelos’ office released a statement laying down a strengtening of Kendra’s Law as a marker for discussing gun control measures. A measure that would have closed loopholes in the law that requires violently mentally ill people receive treatment was bottled up in an Assembly committee.

“The Senate is committed to acting on legislation as soon as possible to strengthen Kendra’s Law and make it permanent,” Skelos said in a statement. “We are seeing more and more horrific stories about what can happen when someone with a severe mental illness, who poses a danger to themselves and others, doesn’t receive the proper treatment. Not only should this issue be a part of our discussions related to gun safety, but it must be part of any three-way agreement on laws to increase public safety and prevent the kind of senseless violence and death we’ve seen in the past month.”

This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on January 4, 2013 at 2:03 pm, and is filed under Andrew Cuomo, IDC. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Flynn/100001703540782 Mike Flynn

“Jack Bonner Advocates not registering your Assault Weapons with NYS”

I attended a public forum meeting at the Watertown NY Dulles State building last night sponsored by a local businessman named Jack Bonner, owner of JSL Communications, to discuss school security, mental health and firearm issues. At the meeting Mr. Bonner advocated that Assault weapon owners not register their weapons with NYS, because soon NYS will likely want to confiscate those weapons, and if NYS doesn’t know you own an ‘Assault Weapon’ they can’t take them back once the new laws are passed.

He ended the meeting by saying that if Government is on your doorstep, I’ll be there to fight it out with you, against any government attempting to take your guns back. If Mr. Bonner is to be believed Government seizure of weapons is likely to cause and armed insurrection. They’ll fight it out if it’s the only way to keep NYS’s Gov. Cuomo and the Federal Government from carrying out a weapons confiscation program; after passage of new ‘Gun Control’ laws.

Also sitting in on the panel were Supt. of Watertown Schools, Terry N. Fralick, and former candidate for Sheriff Charles F. “Chuck” Ruggiero. These openly ultra Conservative types led the meeting and didn’t exactly make Progressives like myself feel welcome; but neither did they discourage me from attending, I shook both Mr. Bonner’s an Mr. Ruggiero’s hand introducing myself to them. I was denied the few minutes I had been promised to speak at an open Mic for the purpose of stating the case for ‘Gun Control’ legislation now.

A large portion of the meeting did focus on School Gun Control issues and what actions were being taken by Supt. Terry Fralick to beef up school security. Very little from what I could gather –there isn’t going to be armed security in every school, and Mr. Fralick said that ‘Unions’ prevented him from having armed Teachers in Watertown Schools.

Parents at the meeting remain very disturbed that students in Watertown Schools are not being adequately protected, and too little is being done by Mr. Fralick to beef up Security. I suggested he hold open meetings and take direct suggestions on how to accomplish better School security in Watertown Schools, but he made no commitment to do so at this meeting.

After over two hours it was time to end the meeting and I tell you now Mr. Bonner and others in attendance believe it is going to come down to a war with local, State or Federal authorities to hang on to gun owners assault weapons once Gov. Cuomo and the Federal Government pass gun control legislation. I don’t think this is an idle threat, they believe it to their core.

Mike Flynn ‘Middle class Mike’

Ed

Please outline how the proposed gun laws will effectively reduce crime, control criminals and insure safer streets. Explain how law abiding New Yorkers who have complied with existing laws will not be affected by the outlawing of their currently legal firearms.